


A Soak in Warm Water

by nosoda



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Book 1:Way of Kings spoilers, F/F, Hair Washing, Shallan POV, Way of Kings, it can be not platonic if you want, it can be platonic if you want, kind of, non-sexual nudity, rated teen for nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 03:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19287313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nosoda/pseuds/nosoda
Summary: What if Jasnah had chosen something a bit more relaxing than taking Shallan for a field trip to murder 3 people to loosen Shallan up?Shallan POV





	A Soak in Warm Water

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic i've written in years, so bear with me. forgive any errors in cannon, improper grammar, or out of character behavior. I just wanted to get idea down and out there. I hope you enjoy it.

_ I can’t do it, _ she realized. _ Stormfather, but I’m a fool. I came all this way … And now I can’t do it! _

  


She pulled her hand from her pouch and stalked back across the bathing chamber to her chair. What was she going to tell her brothers? Had she just doomed her family? She sat down, setting her book aside and sighing, prompting Jasnah to open her eyes.

  


Jasnah watched her, as if she were looking at a particularly meaningful passage in a book, trying to decide what it meant. Shallan watched out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to engage in a staring contest, settling for being studied instead. She had seen that face the first day she met Jasnah, like she was trying to figure out just by inspecting her face what drove her to keep attempting at her goals after what any normal person would call an unequivocal failure. Well, desperation, Shallan found out, is an excellent motivator. But evidently not motivating enough to get her to do what  _ she came here to do in the first place _ . She dreaded the thought of telling her family. This was betrayal. They were relying on her.

“Shallan?”

  


Shallan broke out of her daze, looking sharply slightly upwards, then turning to face Jasnah.

“You seem stressed.”

  


_ I am stressed out of my storming mind, what am I going to  _ **_do_ ** _ Jasnah, I’m leaving my brothers  _ **_stranded_ ** _ , _ “I… that’s a way of putting it, I suppose.”

_ Calm yourself Shallan. Deal with this later. It won’t do you any good to have a breakdown in front of Alethkar’s  _ **_single most important scholar_ ** _. _

“Come join me, Shallan.”

  


Shallan resisted the urge to scrunch her face up in skepticism at her own mind’s functionality. Had she just heard Jasnah Kholin ask her to join her in the bath?

  


“What?”

  


“I find that a soak in warm water helps to calm many nerves,” Jasnah said, steady and calm and in control, as always, “it won’t serve you well in your studies, or anywhere else for that matter, to be carrying such tautness with you. Come join me.”

  


Jasnah looked at her expectantly like this wasn’t an issue, like she had just asked Shallan to hand her a passage, or something of the like.

  


Shallan waited a beat. Jasnah looked and sounded sincere, and she couldn’t very well ignore a request from someone of her standing. And truth be told, A bath sounded nice.

  


After taking a split second to shove down her current dilemma into her subconscious Shallan began to undress. Shallan reached to her back, and unlaced her teal blue dress, then pulling her freehand out of its sleeve, followed by her safehand. She blushed unconsciously, not used to having it out without the prerequisite of being alone first. She risked a quick glance at Jasnah, who had reverted to having her head halfway sunk in the water, her eyes closed and her hair floating all around her, giving Shallan her space as she undressed.

  


Shallan wormed her dress off the rest of the way, carefully placing it on the chair she was sitting at, extremely aware of the weight in her safe pouch that bore the object of her family's salvation or demise. She forced herself not to think of it as she removed her undergarments, and took out the ties in her hair.

  


Now matching Jasnah’s bareness, Shallan slowly descended the steps into the large bath. Almost instantly she could feel some tension being lifted off her shoulders, the welcoming warmth enveloping her. Despite herself, she felt a faint smile tugging at her lips. Yes, She could see why Jasnah liked it in here so much.

Shallan lost herself in the water as the seconds turned to minutes. Perfect silence reigned. She was disturbed by the sound of rippling water, And peaked one of her eyes open to see Jasnah climbing out of the pool. Shallan sighed to herself, disappointed to see her peace end so shortly, but began to rise regardless.

“Stay there, Shallan.” Jasnah spoke in an even tone.

  


Shallan froze. “Brightness?”

  


A few anxious thoughts of Jasnah finding out what she meant to do bubbled to the surface, and for a few tense seconds, she didn’t know what to expect. When Jasnah simply reached for the soap tray, Shallan covertly breathed a sigh of relief, and sank back down into the water. Surprisingly, Jasnah sat almost directly next to her in the pool, despite the large size and numerous other spots, and set the tray down next to both of them. Shallan adopted a mildly confused expression, turning to Jasnah in question. “Turn.” was Jasnah’s response, her freehand on Shallans shoulder, guiding her to turn away from her. 

  


“What’re you-?”  Shallan’s words got stuck in her throat at the sensation of fingers, gentle yet strong, weaving through her hair. Her shoulders tensed on instinct, and at that moment she was glad her face was turned away from Jasnah -- she could feel her face going pink. Although,  _ storms _ , that felt good. Jasnah said nothing, continuing to lather the fragrant soaps all though Shallan’s red hair. 

  


Shallan felt her shoulders slowly untense of their own volition as she gradually melted into the sensation. While nails lightly scraped at her scalp, a contented smile found its way onto her face. The back and forth pressure was almost mesmerizing. Shallan’s mind slowly started to empty, her thoughts slipping away like they had better places to be than rattling around in her brain. She didn’t blame them. She didn’t mind either.

  


Up, down, clockwise, counterclockwise. The minutes flowed smoothly by, until Shallan felt the fingers leave, and warm water started to pour on her head. She closed her eyes to avoid the familiar sting of soap in the eyes. She opted to dunk her head in the water, running her own fingers through her hair quickly to get out any remaining soap, before rising up again to take in air.

  


Brushing her soaked hair out of her face, she turned to look at Jasnah. She was turned away from Shallan, long hair falling across her back. No words were spoken between them, but the message was clear.  _ Your turn _ .

  


Jasnah’s hair was damp, but the soap would need more water to lather properly, so Shallan started by cupping water in her hands and pouring it over Jasnah’s head, careful to keep it towards the back of her head where it would be less likely to get in her eyes. That done, she reached for the soap tray, putting some perfumed gel-like substance on her hands. Shallan carefully, almost tentatively, placed her hands on Jasnah’s head, then spreading out her fingers to massage in the soap.

  


Her hair was soft, obviously well kept over the years. Suds started to appear as she kept working her fingers, gel blending with water to get a nice lather. Shallan lackadaisically noticed that Jasnah was very relaxed, a rare thing to see from the Alethi princess. Her shoulders slumped, though her head was still pointed upwards, likely from habit. Almost as if on cue, she sighed contently, quietly, as that Shallan would have missed it had she not been paying attention.

  


Shallan slowly lost her goal of scrubbing in the suds, and found herself instead enjoying the sensation of Jasnah’s hair on her hands. After all, Jasnah herself spent more than a couple minutes on  _ her _ hair, why not return the favor?

  


Her hair was dense and fairly long, in addition to being soft on her hands.  _ I  _ am _ going to find an excuse to do this again _ , Shallan decided. She scratched and massaged and rubbed every bit of her scalp, and even parts of her neck and face.

  


Finally determining that it was likely time to end, Shallan reluctantly pulled her fingers from out of her hair and used them once more to pour water on Jasnah’s head. The suds slipped away more with each handful of water, until all that remained was dark, soft hair. She took the hair in her hands and wrung out extra water.

  


“Your hair’s clean.” Shallan said, quieter than she meant to. Jasnah turned around and smiled at her - a rare thing. “Thank you. You are feeling better now?” Shallan considered, remembering how she felt before she climbed in, and comparing it to how she felt now. 

  


“Much.”


End file.
